That $90,000 figure may seem high, but keep in mind
that 39 percent of our sales respondents’ companies do
more than $500 million in annual revenue. Ninety-five
percent of this year’s group say they receive additional
compensation, with the average amount being $25,500.

But when eliminating two major high outliers, that
average comes down to $19,400 — which is still a good
bump from the $17,600 of our 2016 group.

The amount of this year’s sales respondents who say
they faced a salary or benefits cut — 20 percent — is
identical to the year before, while the amount who didn’t
receive a raise in the past year took a 12-point drop to
40 percent.

The amount of sales group respondents who say their
job demands increased in the past year dropped 14 points
year-over-year to 66 percent from 2015 to 2016, but that
figure jumps back up eight points this year to 74 percent.

On the bright side, 61 percent of this year’s group feelthey are faced with adequate job growth opportunities attheir company — up nine points from the 2016 group.Only 60 percent of our 2015 sales group said they feelfairly compensated, but that figure grew two points thenext year and more than four points this year to top 66percent. That stat’s recent high was 72 percent in 2014.

More than half of the comments from our sales group
indicate they should be compensated more. Here’s a
collection of what this group has to say:

• “New title, more hours of work and away from home
and job responsibility and no increased compensation.”

• “I am paid on performance. They have given me the
tools and I am managing to perform.”

• “Wish I had more base for added security. Market
swings make for a stressful environment.”

• “It’s the old story — too much work, too little time for
too little money.”

• “I am paid a fair base and a fair bonus structure with a
company car and good benefits.”

• “Someone of my experience and expertise should be
making approximately double what I make.”

• “ 10 years without any form of a pay raise. Would you
feel fairly compensated?”

Coming Soon:ID’s 2017 Big 50 List

We are currently putting together our 2017 Big 50 List — our annual ranking of the largest industrial distributors by
worldwide revenue. ID readers can find our Big

50 survey at this link, http://ow.ly/PX8J30d7B05, or
on our social media networks (Facebook, Twitter,
LinkedIn). For non-publicly traded companies, we
use that survey data to compile our Big 50 List
information. The Big 50 is based solely on each
company’s 2016 full year sales. The Big 50 will first
be unveiled via a three-part video countdown in late
August, followed by its feature in the September/
October print issue and then the website article
version a week later.

In the past year, have the demands ofyour job…Stayed the sameDecreased6.8%